Challenge 1127

Take Caution

In Domonique Krentz’s Flesh and Pine:
1. In what literary genres are inanimate objects or non-human charactrers commonly given human personalities?
2. What makes the “pine box” special? Why would no other form of burial — or non-burial — be appropriate?
In Devorah Roberts’ Memory Vesting: Why might Alan’s “Swing by” message to Leslie be introduced with “Speak of the devil”? In what way is Leslie’s deal with Memory Vesting a “Faustian bargain”? What might the story imply about workers’ co-operating with artificial intelligence?
In Mike Rogers” Acting Out the Future: When did female science fiction writers begin to be accepted by editors and publishers? What other clues might allow readers to guess that the story”s time setting is the early 1950”s?
In James Rumpel,”s My Strange Adventure at Sea: The story is quite easily read as a set of literary parodies. Might it also be read as satire? If so, what might be the critique and its object?